FARRIS
The Farris (Faires, Faries, Ferris) family was among the first
pioneer settlers of Washington and Russell counties of South-
western Virginia when it was a wilderness frontier.
William, Robert and Gideon Farris settled on the South Fork
of the Holston River near the present town of Damascus in
S.E. Washington County Virginia in 1768. William died in
1777 and Gideon administered his estate.
Gideon (b. ca. 1740-1745) like his father, William, was a
farmer and frontier Indian fighter. Gideon served with Col.
William Christian in 1776 on a campaign against the Cherokees
in East Tennessee who had been attacking frontier settlements
at the instigation of the British.
Gideon Farris died about 1818 leaving his widow Sarah
(McSpadden) and ten children; Robert, Samuel, William,
Gideon (Jr), Mrs. Moses (Elizabeth) Hickenbottom, Thomas,
Mrs. Rev Nickolas (Sarah) Speak/e/s, Mable, Mary Callum
and Jane McCully.
Robert, Mable and Gideon (Jr) owned land in Claiborne county
Tennessee in the 1820's and 1830's but later went to Lee county
Virginia where brother, William and sister, Mrs. Rev. Nickolas
(Sarah) Speak/e/s lived. William later moved to Carter (later
Johnson) county Tennessee where his sister, Mrs. Moses
(Elizabeth) Hickenbottom lived.
** William Farris, Gideon Sr's son, was born about 1766-1770
and is listed in the 1810 census (page 3b) of Washington
county Virginia with wife and nine children (5 males and 4
females). My great grandfather, John K. Farris, was born later
(ca. 1813-1814) and was probably the youngest of William's
children. Although there is no proof on all, I theorize these to
be the children of William Farris (b. 1766-1770): Martin,
William (Jr), Nancy (Garnett)*, Edward*, Elizabeth (Berry),
Rosanna (Taylor), Sarah (Austin), James B.*, Levi and John K.
Farris. (*=theorized). William Farris (b. 1766-1770) probably
died in Johnson County Tennessee between 1840 and 1850.
John K. Farris born about 1813-1814 (son of William b. 1766-
1770) married ca. 1837 Mary Ann Bales (b 1818-1820 in Lee
Co. Va.) the daughter of vincent Bales (1793-1876) and Joanna
Breeding (1795-1878), the daughter of Jeremiah Breeding
(1763-65-1834) and Elizabeth Hurst (1772-18??).
John K. Farris was an Iron worker and foreman for the
Bales Forge in Lee county, Va. He was later a partner in
another iron forge but the high waters of 1863-64 washed
it all away. He was also a distiller and farmer owning land
in Claiborne and Johnson counties when he was a young man.
In 1887 John K. and Mary Ann purchased land in Union county
near Lost Creek and Maynardville where they later died. It
has not been determined where they were buried but probably
in the Norris Lake area. John K. and Mary Ann Farris had ten
children, all were born in Lee County Virginia but later lived
in Union and Claiborne counties. Their children are:
1. Elizabeth Jane Farris, b. 4/20/1838 d. 7/3/1913 Union
Co., m. 1st Hiram N. Hubbard (1832-1863); m. 2nd. David "Pat"
Campbell, he disappeared during a trip to sell cattle.; m. 3rd.
William A Watson (1848-1890); m. 4th C _____ Herron.
Elizabeth's children: William P. Hubbard (1862), Mollie
Campbell (1868-69), and Elizabeth L. (1870), Margaret L.
(1872), Harrison C. (1875), Martha J. (1878) and Benjamin
Franklin Watson (1883).
2. Vincent Bales Farris, b. 1840, joined the Confederate Army
(Co. I, 25th Regiment Virginia Mounted Cavalry - "Lee Rangers")
he was a 4th Sergenant, captured at the battle of Cumberland
Gap January 1864 and died in Rock Island Illinois on 3/10/64
of illness while a prisoner of war.
3. William Bartley Farris, b. 3/24/1841 d. 6/28/1913, m.
1875, Nervesta "Vesty" Neal (1851-1892) they lived and died
in Claiborne Co. Their children: Laura (1877), Edward Bartley
(1879), Lucy (1880), J. Frank (1882-83), and Lula (1891).
4. Calab Farris, b. 1/3/1845 d. 5/29/1919, Knox Co.
Joined the Confederate Army (Co. G, 25th Virginia Mounted
Cavalry) and was captured with his brother, vincent, and
sent to Rock Island Prison in Illinois where on 10/6/1864 he
volunteered for service on the western frontier in the 2nd.
Regiment U.S. Volunters, Co. E. and served at Ft. Lyon,
Colorado Territory. He rose to the rank of Corporal and was
paroled and mustered out of service at Ft. Levenworth, Kansas
on 11/7/1865. In 1871 he married Sarah E. McAfee (1848-1907),
in Lee Co. Va. Their children: Moses Lee (1871), John Knox
(1873), William S. (1875), Myrtle J. (1877), Dora C. (1881),
Sterling B. (1884-85), Charles C. (1886-87), and China (ca. 1888).
5. George Farris, b. 11/20/1845 d. 1/15/1922, Union Co.
m. 1871, Lee Co. Sarah Elizabeth Watson (1856-????). Their
Children: Perlina (1874), William R. (1877), Stephen B. (1879),
Archie Verlin (1887), Laska (?) (188?), and Rhetta L. (1891).
6. Stephen Bradley Farris, b.7/13/1854 d. 10/4/1928,
Hale Co. Texas. He first married 1875 Union Co., Margaret
V. Lynch (b. 10/23/1860) daughter of Riley H. & Solina.
Children: Lydia C. (1877), Ida Paulina (1879), William Riley
( 1881), Virginia Luster (1884), Louis Kelly (1886), John Loy
(1888), and Robert Emmett (1890). Margaret died of illness
on 5/31/1892. In 1894 Stephen married Malinda Emmaline
Keck, in Claiborne Co.
7. Sarah R. Farris, b. 1855 Lee Co. Va.
8. Squire J. Farris, (1856-1857)
9. Emily C. Farris, (1858-1884)
10. Margaret Laura Farris, (1860-19??) m. Harvey S. Witt.
Stephen Bradley Farris was a farmer and did most of his
own blacksmith work, horse shoeing and tool making. After
the death of his first wife in 1892, Stephen married Emmaline
Keck, the daughter of William McKendry Keck and Sarah
Elizabeth (Beason) Keck, of Claiborne County. Emmaline's
younger brother, Isaac McKendry Keck, fell in love with
Stephen's daughter, Ida Paulina, and married in 1895 at
Goin, Tennessee. This made the two families "double kin".
Both families farmed in Union county for several years.
Meanwhile, Emmaline and Isaac's parents and family
moved to Baylor county Texas about 1896. Three years later
in January 1899, Stephen B. Farris and Isaac "MC" Keck loaded
their belongings and families into covered wagons and
headed west to Texas.
Settling in Baylor County, northwest of the town of Seymour,
Texas, they farmed until 1907 when Stephen moved his family
farther west to the Panhandle town of Plainview, where he
purchased eighty acres. Stephen sold his land in 1922 and
the family bought a home in town and he retired, but still helped
his son, John Loy, with his farm in Montley county, Texas
during harvest.
Stephen B. Farris died of heart failure 10/4/1928 and
Emmaline died 3/4/1930. They are buried in the cemetery in
Plainview, Texas Their children:
1. Cale Farris, b. 9/20/1895, Union Co, Tennessee.; d.
4/29/1965, Hale Co, Texas; m. 1919, Ida Bell Harraman
(1903- ); Children: Dorthy Nona, Oliver Cale, Billy Earl,
Gaynell, Jerry and Carolyn Sue.
2. Sarah Elizabeth Farris, b. 5/17/1898, Union Co, TN. d.
11/4/1951, Santa Rosa, NM; m. 1919, Thomas Elmer Davis
(1891-1930): Children: Farris Elvin, Helen Faye and Thomas
Elmer (Jr).
3. Herman Leroy Farris, b. 4/2/1900, Seymour, TX.; d.
8/15/1917, Plainview, TX.
4. Maybell Farris, b. 1903 d. 1903 Seymour, TX.
5. Lillian Jane Farris, b. 7/7/1904, Seymour, TX; m. 1st 1923
Corbett T. Bullock (1903-1961); children: Elizabeth and
Corbett Donald; m. 2nd. 1968, Herman Maloy Smelser.
6. George Henry Farris, b. 1/7/1907, Seymour, TX; d.
4/24/1980, Plainview, TX; m. 1927, Annie Geneva Dean
(1909- ); children: J.B. (1929), Hazle Irene (1931) and Dorman
Dean Farris (1941).
7. Ethel Ella Bertha Farris, b. 8/9/1909 Plainview, TX;
d. 11/28/1985, Plainview, TX; m. 1926, Lawrence Edger
Marshall (1905- ); Children: Lawrence Curtis and Lillian
Susan Louise.
8. Nella Pearl Farris, b. 7/23/1915, Plainview, TX; m. 1930,
Joseph Samual Couch (1904- ); Children: Melvin Dale and
Judy Ann Jane.
9. Mildred Farris, b. 2/4/1920, Plainview, TX; m. 1942,
Nathaniel Hamilton Gammage (1921- ); Children: Linda
Kaye and Ronald Nathaniel.
Written and Submitted by: Dorman Dean Farris: Assisted by Kenneth Farris.
Taken from The Peoples History of Claiborne County, Tennessee.